As Ghana prepare to take on the Ivory Coast in the 2015
African Cup of Nations final in Equatorial Guinea tonight, I take a look back
at some of the best finals in the tournament’s history.
2000 –
Nigeria 2-2 Cameroon (Cameroon win 4-3 on pens)
2000 was a great year for African football and for Cameroon
in particular, who followed up their 3rd AFCON triumph in February
with a surprising gold medal in the Olympic football in Australia later that
year.
The tournament was jointly hosted by Ghana and Cameroon’s
opponents in the final, Nigeria. The final itself took place in Lagos,
effectively making it an away game for Cameroon. That didn’t stop them from
racing into a 2-0 lead, thanks to goals from Samuel Eto’o and Patrick M’Boma
(remember him, Sunderland fans?) before Raphael Chukwu pulled one back for the
hosts just before half time.
The legendary Jay-Jay Okocha, so good they named him twice,
then levelled the scores just two minutes into the second half. Extra time
followed without any addition to the scoreline, which meant the game went to
penalties. Both sides had scored their first two, before former Arsenal, West
Brom and Portsmouth striker Kanu (above) missed Nigeria’s third penalty. Another former
Premier League player in Geremi then put Cameroon ahead for the first time,
before controversy struck.
Victor Ikpeba stepped up for Nigeria and his effort hit the
bar, and bounced over the line and back out again (Lampard vs Germany-esque),
something that the referee failed to spot and said that the penalty had been
missed. Cameroon then won the game through Rigobert Song’s penalty.
1974 –
Zaire 2-0 Zambia (replay, first game finished 2-2 a.e.t.)
The 1974 final is the only one that has seen a replay. The
first game between Zambia and Zaire finished 2-2, with Brighton Sinyangwe‘s
last minute equalizer for Zambia cancelling out Ndaye Mulamba’s 117th
minute strike for Zaire.
Mulamba scored nine goals in just six games at the
tournament, striking in all but one of his side’s fixtures, with the only one
he didn’t score in being the group stage defeat to neighbours Congo. The replay
was staged two days after the first game, at the same stadium, with the same
referee. Mulamba struck midway through both halves to seal his nation’s second
AFCON win and their first as Zaire, with their maiden title coming under the
name Congo-Kinshasa. We now know them as the Democratic Republic of Congo, or
DR Congo for short. Zaire went on to compete in the World Cup later that year.
1992 –
Ivory Coast 0-0 Ghana (Ivory Coast won 11-10 on penalties)
Today is not the first time that Ivory Coast and Ghana will have gone head to head in an AFCON final, as they previously battled it out in 1992. This game was significant because it was the first time in a
final of a major international tournament that every player on the pitch took a
penalty in a shootout. Both sides missed one of their opening five penalties,
as Joel Tiehi missed the chance to win it for the Ivory Coast after Isaac Asare
missed Ghana’s fourth penalty.
Anthony Baffoe was the unlucky one, after he converted
Ghana’s opening penalty, he missed their twelfth as Ivory Coast celebrated
their first AFCON victory, long before the superstars of Yaya Toure, Didier
Drogba and Wilfried Bony came about. The Ghana side by the way included a
certain Tony Yeboah…
2006, 2008,
and 2010 – Egypt 0-0 Ivory Coast (Egypt won 4-2 on pens), Egypt 1-0 Cameroon
and Egypt 1-0 Ghana
Egypt’s three consecutive African Cup of Nations wins in
2006, 2008 and 2010 were unexpected, to say the least. They had only qualified
for two previous World Cups (in 1934 and 1990) and after winning AFCON in 1998,
they were knocked out at the quarter finals in 2000 and 2002, and did not make
it out of the group in 2004. But the 2006 tournament was hosted by the
Egyptians, and that seemed to give them hope.
They beat the Ivory Coast 3-1 in the group, before defeating
DR Congo and Senegal in the quarters and semis. They could not find a way past
an Ivory Coast team that included Yaya Toure and Didier Drogba, as well as Kolo
Toure and Emmanuel Eboue, both of whom would go on to play in the Champions
League final for Arsenal later that year. Drogba and Bakari Kone missed their
penalties as Mohamed Aboutrika won the game for the hosts.
Two years later Aboutrika scored the winning goal again, as
they beat Cameroon 1-0 in the final in Ghana. Just like in the previous tournament,
the final was a repeat of a group stage fixture, and this time Egypt beat
Cameroon 4-2 in the opening game in Group C. Egypt then beat Angola in the
quarter finals, before thrashing the Ivory Coast 4-1 in the semi in what was
the most surprising result of the tournament. Aboutrika’s goal 13 minutes from
time won the Egyptians their sixth overall title.
The 2010 AFCON became notable for Togo’s withdrawal due to
the team bus being attacked on its arrival in Angola, whilst the opening game
between Angola and Mali finished 4-4 despite Angola being 4-0 with just 12
minutes to go. Egypt, despite winning the previous two tournaments, still were
not treated as favourites for this one, despite winning all three of their
group games relatively comfortably. They needed extra time to beat Cameroon in
the quarter finals, before another convincing semi-final display saw them
dispatch Algeria 4-0. Gedo scored in the 85th minute of the final
against Ghana, which was enough to seal a remarkable third triumph in a row for
Egypt (above).
2012 –
Zambia 0-0 Ivory Coast (Zambia won 8-7 on pens)
There was no chance of Egypt winning a fourth consecutive
AFCON because they didn’t even qualify for the finals in Gabon and Equatorial
Guinea. It was Zambia’s turn to write a fairy-tale as they secured their first
ever African Cup of Nations victory, 19 years after the whole Zambia team was
killed after their plane, which was carrying them to Senegal for a World Cup
qualification game, crashed just off the coast of Libreville, Gabon, which is
where the 2012 squad fittingly won the final.
Their opponents were the Ivory Coast, who were favourites
pre-tournament, and were looking to add a second AFCON crown. The game itself
was a drab affair, with Didier Drogba blazing a 70th minute penalty
over the bar, by far and away the game’s best chance. Both teams scored their
first seven penalties in the shootout before Kolo Toure saw his penalty saved
by Kennedy Mweene, who had scored Zambia’s fifth penalty in the shootout. That
gave midfielder Rainford Kalaba the chance to win it for the Zambians, but he
fired over the bar. However, Gervinho then saw his effort sail over the bar,
which left Stoppila Sunzu (above) the chance to win it, which he did. Herve Renard, once
manager of Cambridge United, led Zambia to glory and will hope to do the same
when his Ivory Coast side take on Avram Grant’s Ghana in the final later today.
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